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619:"Called the IMSAI 108, the system can handle 54 megabytes of data with a single spindle or, according to IMS director of marketing William H. Millard, it could be expanded to handle up to 16 drives-864 megabytes-'without any trouble at all.'" "The single-spindle model costs $ 29,500, and a dual-spindle (108 megabytes) model is priced at$ 47,500."
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in 1976 quickly put an end to the dominance of 8080 machines as the new chip had an improved instruction set, could be clocked at faster speeds, and had on-chip DRAM refresh. IMSAI sales quickly plummeted and so in 1977 Millard decided to take the company through another transition, this time from a
308:, receiving positive reactions. IMS shipped the first IMSAI 8080 kits on 16 December 1975 and shortly after turned to fully assembled units. Between 17,000 and 20,000 units were eventually produced, with an additional 2500 produced under the Fischer-Freitas name thereafter.
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in 1984; the franchises became independent following a series of bitter and costly legal battles with
Millard. The right to the word mark IMSAI expired on 2004-04-06 because Thomas Fischer did not correctly submit the required documents for renewal.
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Intel had announced the 8080 chip, and compared to the 4004 to which IMS Associates had been first introduced, the 8080 looked like a "real computer". Full-scale development of the
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which worked poorly. Many franchise dealers refused to retail most IMSAI products except those that retained popularity including the IMSAI 8080. With most of the IMSAI resources
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was eventually acquired by Thomas "Todd" Fischer and Nancy
Freitas (former early employees who undertook continued support after the parent company folded), now doing business as
599:"Hypercube II will sell for about $ 80,000." "IMS marketing director William Millard says military and government agencies have already expressed great interest in Hypercube"
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In 1976, as IMS had completed its transition from a consultancy firm into a manufacturing firm, the name of the company was changed to IMSAI Manufacturing
Corporation.
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and engineering, using his home as an office. The work done by IMS was similar to that
Millard had done previously for the city and county of
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389:(since October 1978), who continued manufacturing and service support under their newly acquired and trademarked IMSAI badge (such as the
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to fund
ComputerLand's expansion, and with Millard's attention diverted, IMS Associates, Inc. went into a "tailspin", and filed for
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and encouraged vast discrepancies between executives and staff - were a key contributor to the downfall of the company, and
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retail outlets, initially called
Computer Shack (the name was changed to ComputerLand following legal threats from
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393:), and continue support to this day. ComputerLand stores continued to prosper retailing
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ComputerLand retailed not only IMSAI 8080s, but also computers from companies including
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Once Upon a Time in
ComputerLand: The Amazing, Billion-Dollar Tale of Bill Millard
813:"The Microcomputer System that's easy to take (Advertisement for the IMSAI 8080)"
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computer manufacturing company to a computer retailer. He established a chain of
238:, all for software. IMS provided advanced engineering and software management to
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158:. Their first product launch was the IMSAI 8080 in 1975. One of the company's
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Advertisement: IMSAI 8080 computer with 1K of RAM. $ 439 kit, $ 621 assembled.
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Scrupski, Stephen (December 11, 1975). "Coming: cheap, powerful computers".
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considered
Millard's requirements - which placed a heavy emphasis on
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IMS Associates required all executives and key employees to take the
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230:. By 1973, Millard founded IMS Associates, Inc. Millard soon found
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362:. The 8080 sold poorly in comparison, and IMSAI developed the
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was put into action, and by
October 1975 an ad was placed in
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416:(1983 film), in which the IMSAI 8080 appeared in a key role
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company, responsible for one of the earliest successes in
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771:"The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)"
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Fire in the Valley: The Making of The
Personal Computer
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In 1974, IMS was contacted by a client which wanted a "
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Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
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new-car dealership. IMS planned a system including a
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637:. Vol. 8, no. 4. Ziff Davis. p. 110.
617:(17). New York: McGraw-Hill: 129. August 21, 1975.
499:"IMSAI Pre-History: The Hypercube and Other Tales"
437:
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554:
865:Defunct computer companies of the United States
697:"The History of IMSAI - The Path to Excellence"
802:Oral history interview with Seymour Rubenstein
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429:
525:"History of Cults: A Trail of True Believers"
699:. IMS Associates, Inc. 1978. Archived from
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860:Computer companies disestablished in 1979
845:American companies disestablished in 1979
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275:system" that could complete jobs for any
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397:computers until IBM abandoned the 8-bit
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676:"Company: IMS Associates, Inc. (IMSAI)"
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234:for his business, and received several
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747:"ComputerLand's suddenly poorer boss"
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629:IMS Associates, Inc. (October 1975).
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150:. The company was founded in 1973 by
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870:Defunct computer hardware companies
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597:(25). New York: McGraw-Hill: 67–68.
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875:Defunct computer systems companies
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444:. Los Angeles: Price Stern Sloan.
242:users, including business and the
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880:1973 establishments in California
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468:"Stores Acquired By Computerland"
609:"Disk system is 'intelligent'".
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222:(IMS) in the area of computer
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850:Companies based in California
745:Brody, Michael (1985-04-15).
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649:Lundin, Leigh (2011-10-09).
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70:; 51 years ago
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808:. University of Minnesota.
523:Crosby, Kip (2001-02-04).
436:Littman, Jonathan (1987).
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806:Charles Babbage Institute
631:"IMSAI and Altair Owners"
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497:Fischer, Thomas (2008).
244:United States Government
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156:San Leandro, California
81:San Leandro, California
797:Official IMSAI website
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818:. Computerhistory.org
678:. Computerhistory.org
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465:Staff (1990-12-30).
177:Standard Training.
132:IMS Associates, Inc.
27:For other uses, see
661:: SleuthSayers.org.
635:Popular Electronics
368:all-in-one computer
330:The release of the
305:Popular Electronics
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283:, small computer,
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185:self-actualization
166:. IMS stood for "
144:personal computing
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378:in October 1979.
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100:October 1979
16:(Redirected from
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725:"IMSAI 8080"
705:. Retrieved
701:the original
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680:. Retrieved
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364:IMSAI VDP-80
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345:Radio Shack
273:workstation
224:consultancy
210:Consultancy
834:Categories
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780:2023-05-26
756:2008-10-27
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707:2008-10-27
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655:Technology
536:2008-10-27
509:2008-10-27
480:2008-10-27
421:References
376:bankruptcy
356:North Star
341:franchised
312:Transition
300:IMSAI 8080
266:IMSAI 8080
256:IMSAI 8080
250:IMSAI 8080
148:IMSAI 8080
124:IMSAI 8080
115:Bankruptcy
751:CNN Money
383:trademark
289:hard disk
240:mainframe
236:contracts
60:Computers
562:(1984).
413:WarGames
372:stripped
360:Cromemco
281:terminal
138:, was a
120:Products
57:Industry
659:Orlando
399:ISA bus
285:printer
232:capital
205:History
104:1979-10
102: (
97:Defunct
87:Founder
73: (
65:Founded
52:Private
572:
530:Forbes
448:
358:, and
180:Forbes
146:, the
816:(PDF)
366:, an
352:Apple
336:Zilog
136:IMSAI
134:, or
18:IMSAI
570:ISBN
446:ISBN
381:The
264:The
191:and
162:was
112:Fate
75:1973
68:1973
395:IBM
347:).
334:by
332:Z80
175:EST
170:".
79:in
29:IMS
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